Intro to American Criminal Law (Part 1) - What is a Crime?

4.1 ★★★★ ★

Intro to American Criminal Law (Part 1) - What is a Crime?

Name: Intro to American Criminal Law (Part 1) - What is a Crime?
Rating: 4.1 (221 reviews)
Author: Michael Traywick

We use the law to teach people how to think, reason, and argue better

updated on icon Updated on Jun, 2024

language icon Language - English

person icon Michael Traywick

English [CC]

category icon Criminal Law

Lectures -9

Resources -1

Duration -1.5 hours

4.1 ★★★★ ★

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Course Description

In this class, we will dive deep into the parts that make a crime and a general overview of many underlying concepts of criminal law (Actus Reus (the voluntary act) Mistake of Fact, Crime of Omission, the Mens Rea (the criminal intent), and several other interesting ideas).

What is a crime? We will look at the underlying elements that make up a crime: Actus Reus, Mens Rea, Concurrence, and Causation. Almost every crime is made up of these four elements. We will get a concrete understanding of what each of those four parts are, and we will explore other factors in crimes that will increase our understanding of the topic.

I will provide videos for the course that will explain each topic along with practice story problems (called fact patterns in law) to help understand each concept. Students will be instructed to listen to a brief lesson, pause the video and try the practice problems themselves, then unpause the video to listen to the answers. Students should pay attention to the thinking behind the answers, not just the answers themselves.

Goals

- Students will learn the basic elements of a crime

- Students will learn to look for the little details, think through a problem, and not settle on the first answer that jumps to mind

- Students will have a broader understanding of the world of criminal law

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for this course.

Intro to American Criminal Law (Part 1) - What is a Crime?

Curriculum

Check out the detailed breakdown of what’s inside the course

What is a Crime?
9 Lectures

1 - The Actus Reus 17:06 17:06
2 - Crimes of Omission 17:06 17:06
3a - Mental States - a Broad Overview 06:14 06:14
3b - Mental States - Mens Rea 11:29 11:29
3c - Mistake of Fact and Mistake of Law 07:44 07:44
4 - Concurrence (Actus Reus and Mens Rea together) 05:07 05:07
5 - Causation - What caused the result? 17:03 17:03
6 - Inchoate Crimes and Practice Problems 17:35 17:35
Practice Problem Answers - Do the Problems First! 09:02 09:02

Instructor Details

Michael Traywick

My name is Mike Traywick, and I am a former high school teacher, a current lawyer, and a veteran of the US Navy.

I am the founder of Law School for Teens, a website and program that teaches law at a high school level, using law to teach kids to think.

As a high school teacher, I taught classes on Criminal Law, Science Fiction, US History, and Civics. I enjoy creating classes that make learn to think in a structured manner and help them learn to look at the world in a critical manner. I also enjoy supporting my former school's "We the People" program, a program that helps high school kids dive deep into the Constitution and the history of our great country.

My goal as a teacher is to help students liberate the genius within them. I am a firm believer that we each have gifts to offer the world, and the purpose of education is to find those gifts. Therefore, my classes are shaped around going deeper into topics and pushing ourselves to challenge our own thinking and the thinking of others to better our understanding of the world around us.

As a lawyer, I do estate planning (wills, trusts, and other types of planning) and business formation (LLCs, corporations, and contracts among other legal necessities for businesses). I enjoy helping families protect themselves from unforeseen events as well as supporting entrepreneurs pursuing their dreams.

While in the Navy, I was an Arabic Linguist. I did a deployment on the USS Florida, a submarine, where I spent 78 days underwater without seeing the sun! I also spent a tour in a Iraq supporting the Navy SEALs in their operations (I am not a SEAL, I just helped them do their jobs).

I am also a part of the John Maxwell Teach as a Certified Leadership Trainer, Speaker, and Coach. I traveled to Asuncion, Paraguay, in May to help teach leadership values to students in the schools in and around Asuncion. It was an amazing experience.

I am a world traveler, who has been to places like Scotland, England, Bahrain, Iraq (though that wasn't a social visit), India, Australia, and New Zealand. I love immersing myself in different cultures, and I enjoy meeting new people.

Course Certificate

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